If you think your pulse races when watching a horror movie, try playing one of these games … alone … in a dark house … at 3 a.m. OK, so you get the idea. Here’s our Top 10 list of scary games.
10. Condemned: Criminal Origins (PC) – I’ve not played this game, but people I trust let me know repeatedly why they feel this is one of the scariest games they’ve ever played. You play against some of the most terrifying beings on Earth – human beings hellbent on your death.
9. SCP Containment Breach (PC) – You’re in a facility with some sort of powerful being tracking you down and you must keep your eyes on it, which is even more terrifying in a way.
8. Slender: The 8 Pages (PC) – This one was popular because it did what so much classic American horror does. It got the sounds and ambiance just right and made survival seem just possible enough that when you died, and you likely did a lot, it would always surprise you at least a little bit. Add that it got harder to run away the closer you got to winning and yep, it was a one-way ticket to Shriek City.
7. The Last of Us (PS3) – The Clickers. That clicking sound…it was odd that only your movements could set them off, but if you did, your death was quick and brutal. Even the other humans could sneak up on you and scare you. The boss Ellie faces, for instance, has a shocking kill move on a 14-year-old girl of all people! Oh the humanity!
6. 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (DS) – This interactive story is quite weird and dark for how anime-like and stilted its graphics are. It’s gruesome and easy to lose. The scare can come from the story’s slow build up to its sickening conclusion.
5. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (GameCube) – This was a tough one to play, and scared through a variety of means. For instance, you had your typical jump scares when enemies would pop up from time to time. You had the darkness, true to the name. But you also had the screen turn off or the saves delete themselves. Or that time when your character just up and fell apart on you. It was a good mix of scary and just flat-out annoying that made it thrilling.
4. Outlast (PC) – Great jump scares, beautiful graphics, and horrifying monsters combine to make you always on-edge. Could this corner be a monster? Nope just a TV! Whew, let’s get goi—OH GOD a monster!
3. Resident Evil 2 (PS) – Everyone remembers that scene: The dogs burst through the window. It’s an iconic mark in horror gaming that’s hard to forget. Your parents won’t let you forget that they had to find you new pants either.
2. Silent Hill 2 (PS2) – Eerie, quiet and of course appropriately-named Pyramid Head. There were so many reasons to be afraid. The fact that you’re just walking through a whole town and you just know something around the corner will eviscerate you gives me the heeby-jeebies to write about.
1. Amnesia: The Dark Descent (PC) – You have no weapons. All you can do is flee and flee you must. A lot. Far better and scarier than its sequel, you need to stay out of the darkness. Until you must go into the darkness. Then all you can do is stave off insanity. And that’s literally the game.